


ring little bells ring winterbells

by Ysavvryl



Category: Winterbells
Genre: Angels, Gen, Surreal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-21 00:11:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11932248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysavvryl/pseuds/Ysavvryl
Summary: If you go high enough into the winter sky, can you meet angels?





	ring little bells ring winterbells

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ideallyqualia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideallyqualia/gifts).



> A wintery treat written in August!

ring little bells, ring winterbells

Chim chim chim; the silver angel ornament spun where it hung from the string of colored lights, hitting little bells as it did.

Ding ding ding: the little white bunny bounced ever upward, using little white bells to ascend.

"Where's the bunny going?" the child asked, shifting the pointer around to lead the bunny through its game.

"I don't know," the mother said. She'd brought up the old game on her tablet as a small distraction from being in the patient room. "He could go high enough to get through the clouds and reach the moon."

"Maybe he can become an angel by climbing all the bells."

"That could be too."

A nurse came in then. "We're ready to transfer you to the surgery room; you'll have to be put to sleep soon."

The distraction caused the bunny to miss a landing and fall back to the snowy earth. "Oh, okay."

"You'll be fine, you're brave," the mother said, although she was more than a little scared.

"Yeah, I'll try the game again later," the child said, still wondering about where the bunny was going. It was easier than trying to understand what was going on.

chim chim chim, ding ding ding

ring little bells, ring winterbells

The silver angel flew up into the dark sky, followed by ghostly bells. "Wait!" the bunny called, bounding through the soft snow as fast as he could. He leaped as high as he could even though the angel could fly.

As his feet hit one of the bells, he was surprised to find that it had substance. It rang and cracked; the bunny jumped up towards another just before the first bell shattered. He couldn't jump straight into the sky. But if these bells remained, he could bounce off them right after the angel. It wasn't normal, but there was no time to think about that. The bells were falling like the snowflakes and presumably would vanish after a time.

Bounce upward into the darkness. Snowflakes tickled at his ears as they touched; he ignored them. It was a cold winter night, one that would last and last; he ignored that too. The challenge of it didn't matter as long as he had this way to reach the angel.

Jump long under the heavy clouds. Sometimes there were clusters of bells close together. Other times, it was like a few had already vanished as large gaps went between one bell and the next. The bunny tried to keep an eye ahead, putting his strength more into the bells before such gaps. This was like skipping between rocks in the summer. Except, this was so much higher and he wasn't sure where he was going.

Don't give up. Be brave, no matter what happens. We're praying for your health.

The bunny came to the largest gap yet, with the next bell much higher than he could bounce. But this was too important! He couldn't give up. Luckily, a bird was flying right in that space. The bunny jumped as hard as he could to land on the small bird and jump to the next bell. "Sorry!" he called, although he was already focused on the next part of his ascent.

"Ack, why'd you have to do that?" the bird called, chasing up after him once she had regained a steady flight.

"It's too important," he called back. "Can't stop."

After flying after him a brief while, the bird asked, "What are you even doing up here in the sky? A creature like you belongs on the ground."

The bunny took some easy hops between a group of five bells to explain. "Gotta catch an angel. For the kid. Have to ask."

The bird came closer at that. "Oh, the human child who played in our yard? They haven't been out to build a snowman yet. I saw that angel too and came up out of curiosity, but they fly better than me."

"Yes," the bunny said, checking for where to go next.

"I wish I could help, but that angel went into the storm. Birds don't go into storms, that's bad news. I can get you to the edge, but I have to go back down before my wings ice over."

"Thanks." The bird helped him cross two more large gaps between bells, letting him enter the clouds.

Immediately, his vision was blocked as if by thick fog. In the icy darkness, the bells had a moonlit glow, piercing through and showing the way. This was somewhere no bunny had ever been to before. But the human child was dealing with a more deadly darkness. Not letting the altitude nor the storm clouds intimidate him, the bunny moved on, chasing the ghostly bells.

Ding ding ding. Amid the windy rumble of the storm, the sound of the bells was reassuring. The angel had to be doing this for a reason. The bunny just needed to catch up.

As he started to wonder why he was doing this when the angel easily outran him at first, the bunny landed on another bell and broke through the clouds. He had to keep hopping from bell to bell, but he caught glimpses of the fantastical view up here. The clouds rolled, rose, and fell like bubbles in milk. While much of the sky was still black, glitters of sparkling stars were strewn everywhere. And then there was the moon: enormous at this height, brilliantly shining, and now showing some patches of lush green.

Then a small bird flew over from the moon; its feathers shone like the moon itself. "Wow, it's rare to see an earth bunny around here," it said. "Do you want to come to the moon?"

The bunny waited until he had a good cluster of bells to answer, "No."

"Really?" the bird asked, surprised by this. "I'm a servant of the moon bunnies; I thought you could only be up here if you wanted to visit. Or even move to the moon. Would you like that?" Seeing there was a large gap between bells, the moon bird rushed across and left a ghostly bit of cloud for the bunny to cross easier. "The moon is paradise for bunnies. They're wonderful, so nobody wants to hurt them on the moon. Do you see the green? There are vast fields of veggies that are usually hidden from the earth by the moon's glow. Carrots, celery, cabbage, lettuce, even some magical veggies that only grow on the moon, they all grow year round."

Vast fields of veggies with no one to hurt him? The bunny was intrigued by this. He could live a wonderful carefree life in a place like that. But, what about the human child?

The moon bird went on describing the moon's wonders. "The moon rabbits are magical beings and they'll be happy to teach you everything they know. They even made it so all the seasons occur in separate places, not separate months. So if you want to live forever in summer, that can be done. Or you could visit winter for a romp through the snow; the veggies still grow plentiful there, I hear they're quite the different taste."

Where he could live a life amid the beautiful snow and not have to deal with the bad aspects of winter? But he wouldn't be happy. "No. I've got to save my friend. Have to catch an angel."

"The angels live further on. Are you sure you want to go after them?"

"Yes." He wouldn't have come this far if he wasn't sure.

"If you're sure about it. It's a long ways, good luck!" The moon bird then flew off back to the moon.

It had been a long way to get here. The bunny bounced onward, past the moon and deeper into the sea of stars. At this point, he wasn't sure what would happen if he missed a jump. It meant that he couldn't. At least the large gaps were lessening. There were many clusters out here. Maybe the angel had slowed down.

The bunny got so focused on making his jumps that he almost missed the patch of rainbow among the stars. But the trail of ghostly bells had finally ended, just within reach of the rainbow. Hoping it would hold him, the bunny leaped one last time and landed amid green sparkles. The angel was here, her robes silver like tinsel and her wings like those of a butterfly.

"Well now, you made a great effort to reach me," the angel said, coming over and petting the bunny while he caught his breath. "What brings you out this far?"

Nuzzling his head into the angel's hand, he felt relieved that he'd made it. "I want to ask if you'll be a guardian angel to a human child I know. They're kind and good. The one time the child yelled at me, it was to warn me out of the garden before the mother caught me there. But they got very ill and haven't been home for many days. They might not recover at all, so please, save my friend."

The angel smiled at that. "You are brave, selfless, and kind to make such a risky journey into the sky. You even passed up the wonders of the moon for their sake. Why don't you become their guardian angel instead?"

chim chim chim, ding ding ding

ring little bells, ring winterbells

It had not been sure that the surgery would help the child survive. Thankfully, it had worked better than expected. There were promising signs in their early recovery that the child would live a normal life even after this winter scare. The child said it was because of a bunny who became their guardian angel, like in the little game. While the adults weren't sure of that, it was a beautiful dream to be grateful for.

And while the child rested in the hospital, a snow white bunny angel stayed by their side, watching over them with love.


End file.
